NZIFF Film Review: "Monster" ("怪物") (2023).

"Who is the monster?" in Monster (怪物). This Japanese drama film directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, and written by Yuji Sakamoto. When her young son Minato starts to behave strangely, his mother feels that there is something wrong. Discovering that a teacher is responsible, she storms into the school demanding to know what's going on. But as the story unfolds through the eyes of mother, teacher and child, the truth gradually emerges.

Kore-eda described Sakamoto as the one writer he had always wanted to collaborate with but that he gave up thinking it would happen. Kore-eda said that he felt a sense of closeness with Sakamoto for their shared interest in the same motifs. Sakura Andō, Eita Nagayama and Yūko Tanaka were cast in the lead roles along with the two child actors Soya Kurokawa and Hinata Hiiragi. The director had previously worked with Andō on Shoplifters (2018). The two child actors were selected after repeated auditions. Kore-eda praised them for their shared on-camera chemistry, which contrasted the apparent differences in their facial appearances and personalities. Ryuichi Sakamoto was hired to compose the films' score. However, Sakamoto did not have the physical strength to accept the offer to create an entire score. At the direct request of the director, he submitted two piano pieces. He used songs from his new album 12 and old songs to compose the whole. In a commentary, Sakamoto stated that the film deals with an "esoteric theme" and that it was difficult to discern who the eponymous "monster" was. According to Kore-eda, the collaboration with Sakamoto was a "longtime wish that finally came true". During filming and editing, he listened to Sakamoto's music in his hotel room. On March 28, 2023, Sakamoto died after a long battle with cancer.

The film stars Sakura Andō, Eita Nagayama, Sōya Kurokawa, Hinata Hiiragi, Mitsuki Takahata, Akihiro Tsunoda, Shidō Nakamura, and Yūko Tanaka. Kore-eda and the cast worked hard to bring out the humanity in each character so by the end you at least understand where they are coming from even if you don’t agree with their choices.

This Japanese drama tackles tough issues but director Hirokazu Koreeda tells them with a slight fairy tale quality with his trademark kindness and consideration. Like a song worming its way into your consciousness in the rainy night air, Kore-eda offers us a film about all the ways we can learn the transformative possibili­ties of forgiveness, including from the movies. Screenwriters are always told to simplify and clarify: Hirokazu doesn’t hold with such rules. His films get stranger and more beautiful as they go. While not wanting to tell us anything explicitly and diligently pretending to look the other way, it wants us to think a lot harder than we usually do about what it means to bring up children. Continuing his reflections on what defines a family, Kore-eda delivers another minimasterpiece in which love and responsibility meld into a brazen attempt to steal your heart.

Simon says Monster (怪物) receives:

Also, see my reviews for Broker (브로커) and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret.